Alien Constructions: Science Fiction and Feminist ThoughtThough set in other worlds populated by alien beings, science fiction is a site where humans can critique and re-imagine the paradigms that shape this world, from fundamentals such as the sex and gender of the body to global power relations among sexes, races, and nations. Feminist thinkers and writers are increasingly recognizing science fiction's potential to shatter patriarchal and heterosexual norms, while the creators of science fiction are bringing new depth and complexity to the genre by engaging with feminist theories and politics. This book maps the intersection of feminism and science fiction through close readings of science fiction literature by Octavia E. Butler, Richard Calder, and Melissa Scott and the movies The Matrix and the Alien series. Patricia Melzer analyzes how these authors and films represent debates and concepts in three areas of feminist thought: identity and difference, feminist critiques of science and technology, and the relationship among gender identity, body, and desire, including the new gender politics of queer desires, transgender, and intersexed bodies and identities. She demonstrates that key political elements shape these debates, including global capitalism and exploitative class relations within a growing international system; the impact of computer, industrial, and medical technologies on women's lives and reproductive rights; and post-human embodiment as expressed through biotechnologies, the body/machine interface, and the commodification of desire. Melzer's investigation makes it clear that feminist writings and readings of science fiction are part of a feminist critique of existing power relations--and that the alien constructions (cyborgs, clones, androids, aliens, and hybrids) that populate post-modern science fiction are as potentially empowering as they are threatening. |
Contents
PART I | 30 |
Anticolonial Identities | 43 |
Metaphors of Transgression | 67 |
Copyright | |
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Alien Constructions Alien Resurrection Anyanwu becomes binary Black Women Butler Butler's narratives Calder's challenge colonized concept context creates critical cyberpunk cyberspace cyborg feminism Dead Girls debates defined desire destabilize developed discourse dolls dominant embodiment ence fiction existence experiences explore female body femi feminine feminist science fiction feminist theories figure gender identity genderqueer genetic genre gynoids Haraway heterosexual human hybrid ideology intersexed Judith Judith Butler lesbian Lilim Lilith machines mainstream male Manifesto masculine material Matrix metaphor movie nature nist normative notion novel Oankali Octavia Butler Octavia Butler's Octavia E ooloi oppression Parable patriarchal political position postcolonial posthuman postmodern potential power relations queer race racial reality relationship representations reproduction resistance Ripley Ripley's role Routledge science fiction film science fiction texts Scott sexual difference shapeshifter social species structures subversive Survivor technoscience tion transgender transgressive trilogy un-human Wild Seed woman writing Xenogenesis Xenogenesis trilogy York